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MEMBER DIARY

Greek Tragedy Unfolds

As an American of Greek descent, I am ashamed. A nation with the highest debt in Europe – Greece, with a debt that is 162% of GDP – should not be experiencing protests and riots in the streets over austerity measures.

And now after a generous European Union bailout agreement was finally reached and approved in the Greek parliament, the Greek prime minister has decided to put the measure to a public referendum. In other words the communists and the labor unions behind the referendum are seeking to undermine any legally-passed reform plan in favor of more debt, just as the left in America is seeking to do here.

The Greek people should be working harder and longer to solve their problems. Because that is the only thing that is going to save their nation. That is the only way to save any entity that is sinking economically.

Yet the unions are leading nationwide strikes. This is utterly counterproductive. And intentionally so. Because if the economy can be destroyed then the communist radicals can take over, which is what they hope to do.

Indeed the strikes are intended to gin up the public against everyone but the people and policies that caused the mess in the first place – socialism and its consequent spending, with artificially high salaries and early retirements, particularly for government workers. Those now must be paid for. No more debt can be incurred to account for it.

And the leftists, trade unionists and communists who are agitating Greece and calling for strikes, are taking their nation down a most dangerous path.

Notice this paragraph from Rueters.com:

‘Most of the violence appeared to be the work of a hard core group of younger demonstrators and as the violence continued, older members of the crowd moved away from the area directly in front of the parliament.’

Of course. So the general protests are organized by the communists and labor unions, and then the violence is provoked by smaller groups of more radical communists. This is all pre-planned. It is like Obama – on a different level, of course – calling for civility (the general protests) but then his Democrat operatives go out and call Tea Partiers every name in the book (the violent protests). It is a classic communist tactic with one hand doing one thing, while the other hand does something else.

Which is exactly what you get when radical leftists take over your nation as communists have controlled much of Greek life for decades.

The spasms of violence by the radicals could easily be put down, but the government is so weak and so full of fellow travelers that it will not act. And a compliant world media make this whole charade seem infinitely bigger than it is.

And soon, the rioters could invade the parliament and start killing people. It is all happening in slow motion. Look at this from reuters.com

‘For the first time since the outbreak of the crisis two years ago, protesters pushed up to the steps of the parliament building itself, setting fire to a sentry box occupied by the ceremonial guards who stand watch over the main symbols of the Greek state.’

This shows the stupidity of the cowardly Greeks, an entire nation of fools cowering before the extremists. A culture that once invented civilization now is showing us how to destroy it.

It all looks strangely like the mob rule by our Wall Street radicals, does it not? And the Wisconsin protests?

And if you want to see the heart of the crisis, look at this recently from reuters.com:

‘A first vote takes place late on Wednesday on the overall bill, which mixes deep cuts to public sector pay and pensions, tax hikes, a suspension of sectoral pay accords and an end to the constitutional taboo against laying off civil servants.’

In other words, the privileged civil servants, all on the far political left, who have been living high off the taxpayers for decades, now are angry that they may actually be held responsible for what has happened and may have to suffer themselves with layoffs and pay cuts. So they are protesting to deflect attention from the real source of the crisis – themselves.

That is another example of how communism always convinces people that their communist-induced misery is always someone else’s fault. And that the solution is… more communism.

Reuters.com also reported:

‘Greek ships were harbored and garbage rotted in the streets of Athens on Tuesday as angry workers built momentum for “the mother of all strikes” expected to bring the country to a halt in protest against a new package of tax hikes and wage cuts.’

How can halting economic activity help a nation in debt? That would be like a person with $20,000 on his credit card deciding he is not going to go to work but is going to hold a protest instead. Real smart…

What he should be doing is working twice as hard. After all, debt is wealth that he already has spent but has not accounted for with work. Which is what socialism is all about.

Reuters.com also reported:

‘International lenders, who are providing the funds Athens needs to stay afloat after it was shut out of bond markets last year, have expressed impatience at the slow pace of reform as Greece has slipped behind on its budget targets.’

So if you go on strike and fail to produce enough wealth to pay off your debts, you are never going to solve your problems. That is why they have been “shut out of bond markets” in the first place. It is a vicious cycle.